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A few weeks ago I posted about the hike up Meadow Creek Trail. On that hike I only made it three or four miles due to running into snow. That really was the point of that hike, to see where the snow level was. Here’s the thing. I figured by now the snow would be substantially melted out so decided to do it again and make an overnight trip to Fortune Ponds and potentially beyond. I ended up setting up basecamp at the lower Fortune Pond and spending two nights there.
Day one was to hike to the lower Fortune Pond. There are two ponds, a lower one and an upper one. The Meadow Creek trail goes right by the lower pond and there are a few nice campsites there. The trail then continues up and over a pass (let’s call it Fortune pass although I’m not sure that’s the real name), down past Pear Lake and then Meadow Creek Trail terminates where it intersects the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). The PCT is a continuous trail from the Mexican border to the Canadian border so once you hit the PCT you’ve got options!
I set up camp at the lower pond and then hiked the .7 miles to the top of the pass just to make sure it was clear. There’s still snow here and there but nothing that requires microspikes or would be considered hazardous and it’s melting quickly. I took a photo of one stream Monday afternoon as I was getting to camp and then another Wednesday morning as I was leaving and it’s amazing the difference just a couple of days makes.
After exploring the pass I decided to try and scramble to the upper Fortune pond. There is no trail to this pond and although I’d hiked through the area several times over the years I had never tried to get to the pond. From the map though it’s really never looked that difficult. It’s maybe a half mile from the lower pond and sits a few hundred feet above it in elevation. A stream flows from the upper pond and is the main water source for the lower pond. Right there is pretty steep and there is quite a bit of vegetation to fight through so that didn’t look like a great option. Continuing up the trail towards the pass though there is a boulder field that is easily scrambled up and once you reach the elevation of the upper pond it was simple to bushwhack over to the pond. The upper pond isn’t quite as picturesque as the lower but still was worth the effort, if for no other reason than to see what’s there.
After enduring thunderstorms overnight (a recurring theme the past couple of weeks) I left the tent set up and took off on a day hike Tuesday morning. My tent uses trekking poles which is one way to keep the weight down but one of the downsides of this is that if you want to leave the tent set up as a base camp and day hike from there you have to remove the poles. It’s not a big deal but means the tent is just laying on the ground all day. Normally that’s no problem but with the potential for rain in the afternoon I was a bit leery of this since I could see rain getting in the tent if it’s just laying there. No such worries came to pass on this day though as it didn’t rain all day.
I headed up over the pass and down the other side to Pear Lake. Pear Lake is one lake where the name actually makes sense since it’s kind of pear shaped. It’s a good sized lake and there are multiple potential campsites along the trail. Just past the lake you come to the PCT and the end of the Meadow Creek trail.
I headed south on the PCT. I hadn’t seen another person so far on my trip but ran into a group within 5 minutes on the PCT. They were a group of six or seven older (than me) hikers on a seven day backpacking trip. I don’t recall where they had started from but they had two more days and were exiting the trail at West Cady Ridge, which is a great trail and one I’m sure to hike this summer at some point. The eldest in the group was a man who was 84 years old. The others said that he’d started out with a 60 lb pack which seems crazy to me. He was clearly up for the challenge though. I hope I’m doing that good at his age!
I continued south for a mile or two until coming to Top Lake Trail and then took that trail a mile or so to Top Lake. It turns out Top Lake is a beautiful little lake set in a large basin. There was at least one large campsite available along the trail. The most notable thing I found in the area was what was left of a deer, namely a front leg. There was no sign of the rest of the deer…
Heading back to the PCT I turned north. On the map it appears that at one point in the distant past the PCT took a different route than it does today. Originally the Meadow Creek trail over Fortune pass was the PCT and then from the lower Fortune pond the PCT had zigzagged up the mountain and a couple of miles later intersected the current PCT once again. I thought perhaps I could find the old trail and take it back to camp. I didn’t really expect to find the trail. There had to be a reason why it was abandoned, probably due to an avalanche destroying a portion or for some other reason where the trail crew didn’t think it was worth trying to maintain that section. It made for a destination though so I set off to find the old trail. Where the intersection should have been was about 4.5 miles and after a couple of miles I passed the group of backpackers again. They were definitely taking their time and enjoying the scenery with plenty of breaks…
Heading north I had several views of Glacier Peak, which IMHO is one of the more picturesque mountains in the North Cascade range.
On the PCT I also met two other hikers about an hour apart, both who were backpacking the PCT in the southbound direction. They had both started at the southern terminus this spring and hiked north to Kennedy Meadows, which is considered the start of the Sierras. Due to the snow in the Sierras this year many people are skipping them and doing other portions of the trail with the intention of coming back to the Sierra portion of the trail later in the summer and that is the plan of both of the gentlemen I ran into. Between constant fires the past ten or fifteen years and the snow this year it’s becoming almost impossible to hike straight through the PCT without interruption and it’s almost a given that you’ll need to skip around a bit. Hiking one direction for a portion and then coming at it from a different direction is known as a “flip flop” and it’s a popular option to try and ensure decent trail conditions. Anyway, one of the hikers was from the UK and although I’m not sure where the other was from, his heavy accent definitely pegged him as being from somewhere in Eastern Europe. Both very nice guys and it was interesting that although I saw them only a few miles apart they each had no idea the other was on the trail. My guess is that eventually at some point in the next few months they’ll cross paths.
I continued to where the old PCT should have been and hiked another half mile or so past that point and then hiked back down the trail but never found any indication of the old trail. Time has reclaimed it to the point where it just doesn’t exist any longer. No big deal, I just continued back the way I had come. I once again crossed paths with the hiking group who by this time were on a first name basis with me.
I made it back to camp with only a few drops of rain encountered and nothing of substance getting the tent wet. Later in the evening the clouds rolled in but for the first time this year I actually made it through an evening without rain, although the humidity was high enough that it might as well have rained. I packed up the next morning and headed back down the mountain. Within a couple of miles the clouds were gone and it was another beautiful day.
The only other thing to note is that so far this year I’ve had no issues with bugs at all. Chasing the snow melt gives you a window of opportunity where the snow is gone (for the most part) but bugs haven’t come out yet. The season is changing though and where there were no flies or mosquitos on the way up the trail, once I hit around the 3,500 foot elevation coming back down the mosquitos magically appeared. Two days can make a big difference and on the way down the mountain they were heavy for a few miles. It’s just a good reminder for me to reapply permethrin to all my clothes prior to my next outing!
